curing, and it’s almost exclusively applied in conjunction with a chemical cure Bacteria need water to survive, so fully or partially dehydrated meat will keep for far longer than fresh meat Many sausages, such as Italian salami, soppressata, and French saucisson sec are dried by hanging them in the open air, during which time friendly yeasts and bacteria partially break down the meat to create a whole host of wonderful, sweet, pungent, and funky flavors European hams and American country hams lose a great deal of moisture through hanging as well By slicing meat thin, you can increase its surface area, creating more places for internal moisture to escape—beef jerky and Native American pemmican are made by drying thin strips of seasoned meat and fat Some cured meats go through only one or two of these processes Most fresh sausages go through a chemical cure, with or without a smoking step Lox is made by chemically curing salmon overnight Cold-smoke it, and you’ve got smoked salmon Bacon is chemically cured and smoked but minimally dried Italian pancetta (cured pork belly) and guanciale (cured pork jowl) are cured with salt and nitrates but not smoked and only minimally dried Some products, like, say, Austrian speck or allAmerican Slim Jims, go through all three processes, making them quite long lasting indeed If you want to experiment with your own smoking or dehydrating or move beyond the basic sausage recipes in this book to more complicated emulsified sausages (think hot dogs, bologna, or mortadella), I’d suggest checking out Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn’s authoritative books on the subject, Charcuterie and Salumi Properly mixed sausage meat should be glossy and sticky looking Sausage: Meat, Fat, and Salt Flavorings are all well and good, but there are really only three ingredients that are required to make sausage: meat, fat, and salt ...If you want to experiment with your own smoking or dehydrating or move beyond the basic sausage recipes in this book to more complicated emulsified sausages (think hot dogs, bologna, or mortadella), I’d suggest checking out Michael Ruhlman and Brian... authoritative books on the subject, Charcuterie and Salumi Properly mixed sausage meat should be glossy and sticky looking Sausage: Meat, Fat, and Salt Flavorings are all well and good, but there are really